Shore Lore: A Christmas gift from Caleb Chase

By Don Wilding

Monday

Dec 3, 2018 at 8:42 AM

When it came to supporting local causes in the Cape Cod community at the conclusion of the 19th century, one of the names that always stands out is that of Harwich native Caleb Chase. The name is certainly a familiar one to those of you who are consumers of canned coffee — it was Chase and James Solomon Sanborn who established the Chase & Sanborn Coffee brand, the first in sealed tins, in Boston back in 1862. Chase, who died in 1908, has an extensive list of philanthropic credits, but one of his most memorable contributions might have been that of the Exchange Building to the town of Harwich in December 1903. Chase, known as “The Coffee King of Boston,” purchased the landmark building and sold it to the town for $1. “His latest and most magnificent gift, the Exchange Building, which originally cost over $40,000, is a notable mark in the sunset of his busy and prosperous life,” according to Jan. 4, 1904 edition of The Barnstable Patriot, via The Harwich Independent. Chase was born in West Harwich on Dec. 11, 1831. According to The Cape Codder writings of local historian Donald Trayser, Chase was the “youngest of the 17 children of Captain Job Chase, but did not follow the sea as did many of his brothers and half brothers, perhaps because six of them, at various times, were lost at sea. “He went to Boston as a young man, worked for a wholesale dry goods firm, then a grocery firm, then branched off on his own with two partners to form Car, Chase & Raymond. After another corporate change, the firm in 1878 became Chase and Sanborn, which, in the last half century has sold a lot of coffee.” Chase was also the donor of the Caleb Chase Fund in Dennis, was the founder of Chase Library in West Harwich, and donated $1,000 to further the improvements at the mouth of the Herring River in West Harwich, among many other contributions. He and his wife lived in Brookline, but also kept a home, which they referred to as “Good Cheer,” in Harwich. The property, located near the old Belmont Hotel, had seven cottages. Chase became a popular figure on the Cape. Upon his return from a six-week Ancients and Honorables trip to England, about 1,000 people were on hand to greet him. “The reception was a total surprise to Mr. Chase, and the warmth of the greetings and tokens of the esteem betraying the respect of the citizens for him, quite overcame him, and it was in a voice trembling with emotion that Mr. Chase in a few well-chosen words responded,” reported the Aug. 3, 1896 edition of The Barnstable Patriot. After Chase’s death, his will provided for family and charities, but also for “practically every employee of the (Chase & Sanborn) firm, with sums ranging from $200 to $2,000 each,” according to the Dec. 7, 1908 edition of The Hyannis Patriot. It also allocated $10,000 for the Baptist Church of West Harwich, $5,000 to the M.E. Church of North Harwich, and the sums of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively, to the towns of Harwich and Dennis “for support of the poor.” The Exchange Building gift, however, may still rank among the Coffee King’s greatest contributions. As The Independent reported: “The unanimous and grateful spirit in which the gift is received, and which found expression in the grand demonstration on Christmas Day, must have given the genial colonel a very happy heart, and a Merry Christmas in its truest sense.”

Don Wilding, a writer and public speaker on Cape Cod lore, can be reached via email at donwilding@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @WildingsCapeCod and on Facebook at @donwildingscapecod. Shore Lore appears weekly.